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The violence in western Niger has claimed thirty-nine lives in two attacks over the past several days, near the border with Burkina Faso, the Ministry of Defence announced on Saturday.
This latest wave of bloodshed reflects the escalating dangers posed by militant groups operating in the region, where security forces struggle to maintain control and protect vulnerable populations from further harm.
“Two horrific tragedies happened in the communities of Libiri and Kokorou, criminals cornered by constant operations by defence and security forces launched attacks on defenceless civilian populations,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
In what the Ministry of Defence called “barbaric acts,” 21 individuals were killed in Libiri, and 18 others lost their lives in Kokorou, among them children. This senseless bloodshed highlights the growing humanitarian crisis in the region, where innocent lives are increasingly caught in the crossfire of escalating violence.
Between December 12 and 14, the operations took place, according to the statement, though the exact timing of the attacks remains undisclosed. The targeted communities lie in the Tera border region, a dangerous zone that has recently become a flashpoint for devastating jihadist violence, with the area enduring a series of particularly brutal attacks in recent days.
For years, the rugged frontier between Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso has been a haven for jihadist factions tied to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, fueling an ongoing insurgency against the regional governments.
On December 7, AFP reported that gunmen had struck a goods convoy, killing 21 civilians in what local sources described as one of the most recent brutal attacks.
On Wednesday, both the BBC and RFI reported that jihadists had killed 90 soldiers and over 40 civilians in Tera’s Chatoumane.
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Niger’s junta dismissed reports of the attack and deaths as “baseless assertions” and a “campaign of intoxication”.
Although AFP was unable to verify those numbers from an independent local source, a Western security source told AFP that 90 to 100 people died in Tuesday’s attack.
The military government suspended BBC radio for three months following its report, the latest in a slew of Western media to be sanctioned by the junta since it seized power in a July 2023 coup.
